Ranadon
Ranadon is the heavily conflicted county of Hilsyren that, ever since it split off from the mainland, during the Reckoning, has fought for its independence so much so that the land is almost as famous for its rebellions as its features. It is also famous for its bards, warriors and warrior bards. 'Produce' Lentrian Red, a red wine for warriors (4gp a bottle) Bardic Spells Bardic Musical Weapons 'History' 45 PR: Holy settlement of Black Lion is built to test those who would seek Antiok. To the south Egel Bichard set up Naythen in what would become Ranadon in honour of the King of Kaebria and started Ranadon’s warrior tradition in protecting the holy land from hoards. 8 MR: Ranadon physically tore asunder from the rest of Hilsyren as the Merchants Gulf was created in the Reckoning’s quakes. To the north Hilsyren has faced demons and evil gods of winter and the wild, with little time to dedicate to what they perceive as a lost cause. Many people of Ranadon are killed by stray demons for no good cause. In the years after this, Ranadon struggled to look after itself but eventually managed to develop a strong system of fiery independence and self sufficiency with a strong tradition of story telling and song to raise morale and convey messages throughout the land. After the Reckoning, it is barbarians who threaten the land most, with Egel Bichard openly denying Ranadon help. While the foundation of the Ethos is being recorded with Selek and the Scriptures, Ranadon continues with its oral tradition. The dark time of cults such as the Challandrine that plagues Hilsyren doesn’t touch Ranadon properly, as they drive out any of these false prophets before they grow too influential, because of this there is little to no demon presence. Unlike Hilsyren, Ranadon’s warrior culture continues to grow as it faces the barbarians alone. When Pellion returned from the sea proclaiming the power of his father's White Rose, Ranadon barely knew, but when the Call amassed other paladins in the following years, Ranadon’s bards took note and its barons joked not knowing what this would mean for Hilsyren. As Hilsyren strengthens with the return of the Dwarf Procession, Ranadon still refuses to unite under one individual ruler, and the barons continue to fight, with deaths occurring in the disputes. AGE OF RESOLUTION (10th) When the angels themselves attend Hilsyren’s growth, the Ranadon barons feel left out but nearly unanimously decide not to seek help during the numerous times of famine and disease. At an all time low Paragourn Padomari, who retired the throne to his son, comes to Ranadon (146QC) bringing healing and hope to the sick and the dying. These acts start to breed sympathizers to Hilsyren in Ranadon, which enrages many of the barons who even in some settlements ban this travelling healers entrance thinking he wishes to steal their people. A great call to arms through out Hilsyren reaches Ranadon, and may of these starving desperate warriors decided to join this quest and march upon a land to the north called Quilltrun. Not a soul returns and this leaves a bad stain in the mind of many of the families of Ranadon in regard to Hilsyren’s divine agenda. Hilsyren’s faith is forever cast in iron with the foundation of the Vatic and the Covenant. Many of the barons of Ranadon fear this and start to finally seek out a single man to be their king so they might have a united front. The briefly-chosen Haggard the Brazen is elected king of Ranadon but while Hilsyren’s new Vatic argues with the powerful Arcanville, Haggard grows overconfident with his power and tries to build a castle with the few resources the united Ranadon has, and then starts attacking Hilsyren ships in the Merchants Gulf between the two. Haggard’s hostility toward Hilsyren irks them greatly, but when the Vatic interpret the Scriptures to mean that Ranadon should be part of Hilsyren once more, they start to do something about it and war nearly breaks out. The recently sainted Mortimer refuses to see these needless deaths and single-handedly acts as diplomat between the two factions, but it seems futile despite how much he is liked and admired by both sides. In 249 QC Saint Mortimer died in the winter on one last diplomatic mission for Ranadon. Ranadon thinks the Vatic was responsible while the Vatic believe it was Ranadon and the fighting looks to continue until Haggard is killed by an unknown assassin, this leads to chaos and disorder in Ranadon, but in the spirit of St. Mortimer (some say he visited Silvid Paromar in a dream) Hilsyren do not take advantage of this and try to win them over with peaceful negotiation and aid to those who need it. In 250 QC the administration of the Vatic goes badly in Ranadon and the province rebels. Lord Silvid Padomar tries to unite them but fails. More disunited than ever and now with an active force to blame, the so called peace keepers of Hilsyren are put under constant attack upon their temporary churches and keeps, but the barons, knowing they cannot stand a direct conflict with the powerful Hilsyren, keep themselves and their sympathizers secret. Over the next few years these Ranadon rebels start to go to extremes that even start to hurt native Ranadonians and sympathizers, and the remaining barons unite with Hilsyren to put an end to these rebels. This is seen as Ranadon’s first great rebellion against Hilsyren, and fated to be the first of many. 255 QC: The Reunification of Ranadon into Hilsyren finally happens, even though it is not to everyone’s liking, the food, healing and general support is greatly appreciated. What wasn’t appreciated is their judgement upon their ways of life. With centuries of no influence from the Ethos, Ranadon has a rich culture of gambling, adultery and other things the Vatic sees as sinful. Only one among Ranadon’s own people preaches to promote this, having had to fight the likes of rape gangs and other horrid savagery all her life. This young woman would become to be known as Saint Amber but was just a girl with spirit, as many of the Ranadon women had become after the loss of many men to battle and the crusade to Quilltrun. Though she was a great advocate of the principles of the Ethos, she did not like how it quashed women’s rights, and she both fought for the faith to be spread to her people but also that the ways of the Vatic, and in turn Hilsyren, change its attitudes towards women. Her impact did not go unnoticed, but her dreams of true equality are still to come true. Many of these new concepts though where put into the Padomica et Ethosia compiled by Vatic Sorbris in 266 QC and the church and the lands would change greatly, but there was still resentment, especially when Hilsyren found itself at odds with Driesenstien. The land wished to conscript to defend their northern front but with the Quest to Quilltrun still in Ranadon’s consciousness, they would not. Ruled by a changing council they fought politically to avoid conscription and won, but this simply led to resentment from citizens of Hilsyren who also did not want to be forced to risk their lives, but were not given the choice. The rebellious spirit of Ranadon seemed to be spreading into Hilsyren. Luckily the actions of the Dwarf Procession ended much of this, but resentment still lingered. More activity up north with the dwarves, this time of Vinmekor took up most of Hilsyren’s time, but helped ease their stain on Ranadon recruits. With the creation of the Arcavists in 328 QC by Ozendon Spellweaver, Ranadon is discovered to have small underground spellcasters. The Arcavists soon put an end to this but small groups and individuals keep cropping up. When the Gold Coast was formed in 339 QC, there was a demand for able bodied men to sail their ships who wouldn’t be bound in some way to Arcanville already, and always looking for a job, the citizens of Ranadon eagerly joined up, in the belief that these activities wouldn’t end in as many casualties. The Ranadon sailors had such a massive boon of wealth with the trade with the Gotmairian counties, that within five years many had broken free from their contracts with the Gold Coast and developed their own fleet. The threats from various Sauhugin attacks previously had made this a reasonable idea, but hostilities grew between other merchant vessels of the Gulf and many un-flagged ships of Ranadon were accused of piracy, attempting to use the Sahaugin as an excuse. When further matters were investigated and this was brought to light to the Council of Ranadon, Hilsyren declared that they would have to dismantle their fleet and this led to the second great rebellion of Ranadon with many battles being won at sea. Though some could say this was more to do with Ranadon’s navy than the land itself, Ranadon gave them full support and the council was disbanded and Ranadon forbidden from having a fleet of any kind, except small cargo vessels. A Steward was put in charge of Ranadon until further change. Ranadon stewed in its own shame while the settlers from the south came to found Eyshabreen in 362 QC. Exchanges between the two were marginal but Ranadon’s bards found a few tales to exchange. When the nation of Driesenstein started its expansion again, Hilsyren could not call upon its Ranadon numbers, and found an even greater strain when their allies among the dwarves of Vinmenkor also betrayed them, breaking their treaty. All this was nothing when it came time for the dragons. The assault upon Hilsyren was great, they lost their Throne lord after only seven years, the Dwarf Procession was kidnapped, the Throne Lord of Arcanville died, several powerful dragons seized parts of the land and near the end the First Lord was assassinated by an unknown assailant. All the while Ranadon had several attacks, but with their fighting experience managed to fight most of the dragons and their minions off. Not only that, but a long lost hoard, of Haggard the Brazen, was found and the wealth distributed among the land. The Dragon Rages wars were a perfect opportunity for Ranadon to become independent again, and even though Hilsyren needed them, they kept to themselves and retained their strength forming the New Council of Ranadon. Once the war was over, at least for Hilsyren, Hilsyren was wrecked, but Ranadon stood strong, but this time they were not cocky, and did not flaunt their power. They came to the aid of the southern counties, but did not risk too much, not wanting to make their bid for full independence quite yet. Hilsyren had greater problems than Ranadon wishing its freedom though; during the Dragon Rage Wars the presence of something known as the Black Lake was revealed, a force of evil and darkness to match the Lake of Antiok’s force for good. Antiok sends a paladin to seek out the Black Lake in the coming years and though he never found it, its agents are revealed in the form of the Anti-paladin. The first attack was though to be the end until a plot was discovered to reveal numerous paladins had been converted by this Mythos. News of this validated Ranadon’s feelings towards to church and they started to remove them from Ranadon. Hilsyren didn’t have the strength to stop this and were working on a force of their own to prevent such a thing from happening again; the Sapphire Order. During the four years of the Sapphire Order’s tyranny over Hilsyren, Ranadon was blamed for the rebellion of the people against the Order, and this is often seen as the Third Great Rebellion of Ranadon, though this time they didn’t start it, but once they were already blamed they seized the opportunity and even helped a few people from Hilsyren fleeing the Orders Pillar or Purity Penance. From this rose another saint from Ranadon, Aolla, leader of the rebellion and national hero. After the reign of the Order lord Illiem actually brought peace to the land, Ranadon included forging his Armour of the Land, mined from all sources of Hilsyren, Ranadon included. Trade grows between Eyshabreen and Hilsyren and Ranadon is slowly allowed its ships back under Hilsyren captains, and the lands flourish for over fifty years under Illiem's rules. The Dwarf Procession even tries to get the truth from the side of Ranadon during the incidents of their so-called Third Rebellion. There are minor disputes over the next few decades but nothing major, and occasional figureheads rise up in opposition of the church but nothing serious and that can’t be dealt with. While they have their council, the people of Ranadon seem to be happy. Then over a centenary after the Sapphire Order, 647 QC the First Lord Illiem II dies by unknown means in his bed and his 15 year old son inherits the throne. Tension and worry is rife in the land, and it is visible in Ranadon too. It seems this is all leading up to another of the worst incidents in not only Hilsyren history but, Lorald's; the Year of Hell. 666 QC saw many deaths and evil rituals, and though the paladins saved the day it was the stains of all that had been witnessed, and the mess of all that had not, that made it so dreadful. When First Lord Albristnor declared war on Kaebria in 668 QC he forced Ranadon to his will by nearly enslaving them to do so, separating the men from their wives and children and threatening death on them if they did not do as they were told. Though this turned out to be a infernal impostor the acts stirred something up in Ranadon again and the same spirit of civil war that is happening in Eyshabreen seems to take Ranadon and its small revolts turn into larger scale attacks that involve the burning of churches. This is possibly their Fourth Rebellion but it was not a unified front, and Ranadon was fighting itself half the time, rarely spilling out beyond its boarders. Small cells are quashed but it is highly recognised that Ranadon is the rebel state, and a strict guard is forever kept but the occupying forces of Hilsyren, for their own protection. This seems to only insult the Ranadonians further. While Hilsyren fought its war for the White Rose with Eridor in 731 QC, Ranadon waited. Though some men from the land fought in that battle, none were forced, despite having a growing informal army. 739 QC - 742 QC: Ranadon War of Independence, the Fifth and most certainly the largest rebellion Ranadon ever took part it. Taking advantage of Hilsyren's weak state after the War of the White Rose, rebel leaders seized the council towers and burnt them to the ground, they then drove out all the clerics and killed those who wouldn’t leave, then burned any signs of any temples. Many people of Ranadon didn’t want to stay but the rebels wouldn’t let them leave. Hilsyren would not let this stand, and though the prisoners where not true Hilsyren stock, they got involved. Lasting three years, with countless battles and uncovering a hot bed of cults and cables (most notably that of Xix) there were two great heroes of the war; Mathus Padomar and Second Lord Darostious Spellweaver. Many lives were saved because of their actions, and when the war tried to spill out into Hilsyren their actions at the last minute prevented many, many deaths. This is not to say they did not kill any Ranadon rebels who survived, and hold them as war criminals for their acts, but they only ever did what they needed to save lives. 'Current State' Ranadon has been a mad dog on a leash ever since, biting when it gets a chance, but unable to escape the hold Hilsyren has on it. A fresh rebellion is said to have happened, and they may now be taking their actions out on Hilsyren from within, but this has not been confirmed yet. The other interesting event at the moment is the rise of someone calling himself a prophet of the New Ethos, who claims to have divine powers separate from the corrupted Vatic, but again, as he would be quickly put an end too if found, he has been in great hiding. Game Rules for the Ranadon Bonus Class Skill Options (choose one): * Bonus Feat Options: *Secret Signs (Int 13) Advanced Feat Options: General *Parting Shot Combat